


Bolt and Keeper Arc One Bonus Feature: Notes and Unused Content

by jbhughes54enwiler



Series: Bolt and Keeper [2]
Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Bolt and Keeper, Gen, Notes, Story Development, Unused scenes, bloopers, character profile
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25135459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jbhughes54enwiler/pseuds/jbhughes54enwiler
Summary: Hello, jbhughes54enwiler here!  I'm going to dump some notes and unused ideas here for Arc 1 of Bolt and Keeper, along with some fun extras like "bloopers" of some scenes in the story!  You can expect to see some scene drafts, character concepts, random ideas I jotted down, and unused or alternate scenes!So if you want to have a window into how I made this story, please take a look!  I promise it's not just boring story-development stuff, there's some really cool stuff here, like plot elements I couldn't fit into the main storyline, facts about the characters you won't see in the main story, and even some chuckle-inducing jokes I made involving the characters!   There's also canon facts about the world and characters that will never be seen anywhere but in these notes!Obviously, the notes here have MAJOR spoilers, so make sure to finish Arc One before reading this!
Series: Bolt and Keeper [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1722475
Comments: 5
Kudos: 9





	Bolt and Keeper Arc One Bonus Feature: Notes and Unused Content

Bolt and Keeper: Arc One Bonus Features

**Bolt’s Original Character Profile:**

This, more or less, is my original character sheet for Bolt. It’s not the real original, since I made many edits to the sheet and didn’t keep the older versions, so Bolt’s earlier incarnations are unfortunately lost to time. However, there are some major differences between this profile and what ended up getting written. For instance, Bolt was originally going to have a much more negative relationship with Cereus, and, at least for the first portion of the story, was going to have a very sarcastic and passive-aggressive tone with Keeper. Bolt was the only character I wrote a true character profile for.

Also included are some dialog templates for Bolt. A big thing I do when I’m writing a story is pretend my story is going to be a video game. The templates I wrote were done in that style; they would be short context-sensitive sentences Bolt would say during certain events in the “game,” such as when Keeper issues a command to Bolt that he can’t safely fulfill, like asking him to walk into a room full of hungry SkyWings. If Bolt and Keeper _were_ a video game, it would rely heavily on switching between controlling Bolt or Keeper, utilizing their unique abilities to solve puzzles and such, like relying on Bolt’s small size relative to Keeper to go places Keeper can’t fit.

Following is the character draft, copied and pasted from my original notes.

\--------------------------------------------------------------

Character: Bolt

-16-year-old “scavenger” (human) boy, blond hair and pale skin, very rare in the dragons’ world

-Can telepathically communicate with dragons, his most useful trait. He can choose specifically who he communicates with, leaving anybody outside the conversation, even mind-reading Nightwings, oblivious to his power.

-It is later revealed that his telepathy is not the result of psychic or supernatural powers, but is instead caused by the Terran telepathic translator implanted in his head at birth.

-His family was eaten by dragons right in front of him when he was 5, heavily traumatizing him

-Holds a dragon-sized grudge against Trunk, the Nightwing who ate his family. Merely hearing his name causes him to radiate an aura of sheer hatred that can

make Nightwings attempting to read his emotions very uneasy. (“I’ve never felt such hatred coming from a scavenger. Are you sure it’s safe to be keeping him?”)

-Keeper’s initial name for him is “Shoe” because he lost one of his boots in the process of running away from Keeper when they first met. Keeper learns Bolt’s real name from the man himself when he establishes communication with the human. “Hey, if you’re going to call ME by a “pet” name then I’m going to make one up for YOU.”

-His common friendly greeting for Keeper: “Now there’s my favorite pair of wings!”

-VERY handy. Managed to build a complete human-style bedroom for himself inside Keeper's chambers. This becomes a useful trait that allows Keeper to become rich selling the trinkets that Bolt expertly puts together. He’d share the treasure with Bolt, but much to the dragon’s surprise, _this_ scavenger isn’t into shiny things.

-Unbeknownst to him, he is not from Pyhrria’s planet at all. Bolt is the descendant of space travelers from Earth, and is destined to make the Lost Flying City of the Scavengers, AKA the TUSC Starchild, fly again.

-DOES NOT like Cereus; “Call me cute ONE MORE TIME, and I’ll show you just how ugly I can be!”

-Later acquires a suit of futuristic armor that "blows apart" so he can step inside. (?)

-Has an unfortunate habit of "sleep-fighting;" literally spontaneously becoming aggressive in his sleep.

-Becomes testy if anyone tries to “claim ownership” of him, like any logical human being would.

-Wears a vest over a cotton shirt, cotton trousers, boots, and is easily noticeable by his long scarf, which belonged to his father. (“It’s all I have left of him”) The scarf always covers the lower half of his face like a mask, and he only takes off the scarf if he’s alone or if he’s with someone he _really_ trusts.

-His home constantly moves before he moves in with Keeper. His “portable den” as the dragons call it, (His tent/camping supplies) can be deployed in less than half an hour and the entire thing fits into a backpack, much to the dragons’ amazement.

-His musical theme, if I could borrow a song from any existing soundtrack, would be “Nascence” from the Journey (PS3/PS4) soundtrack.

Bolt’s Dialogue Templates

Greeting: (Keeper)

  1. Hi there, friend.

  2. Now there’s my favorite pair of wings!




In Pain/Under Attack:

  1. Ouch!

  2. Keeper, HELP!!

  3. Oh, God, I’m gonna die!!

  4. Little HELP over here!?




Hostile/Aggressive Bolt:

  1. I am NOT getting eaten by you!!

  2. Sorry, I’m NOT on the menu!

  3. Stay back!




Needs Help from Keeper:

  1. I’m strong, but not THAT strong.

  2. Keeper, could you lend a talon?

  3. Looks like I’m not the right size for this.




Giving help to Keeper:

  1. Sounds like a job for the scavenger!

  2. You sit this one out, Keeper. This job requires a little more... Smallness.

  3. I can take it from here.




Keeper trying to send Bolt someplace dangerous:

  1. PLEASE don’t make me go in there.

  2. I’ll sit this one out. That place looks a little too scary.

  3. Sorry, but I kinda LIKE being alive. I’ll stay out here.




Upon meeting Cereus:

  1. CUTE!? Call me cute ONE MORE TIME, and I’ll show you just how ugly I can get!




If Keeper tries to show Bolt off

  1. Oh no, you are NOT putting me on display!

  2. I’m not some animal you can show off!

  3. I can understand what you’re saying, you know!




**Unused Scenes:**

Scene 1: Bolt’s Telepathic Nightmare: This scene was written VERY early in development. At the very beginning, before I decided to make Bolt a Terran human with a high-tech translator implant, Bolt was originally going to be a true telepath, an actual psychic. In this scene, Bolt’s psychic abilities run haywire while he’s having a nightmare, and soon, the entire neighborhood is sharing in the boy’s fear.

Keeper dashed into the store, narrowly dodging Cereus who was galloping at full speed from another SandWing guard, an expression of utter horror on her face.

  
  


“AAHH!! PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!!” She screamed.

  
  


“Bolt, wake up!!” Shouted Keeper while shaking Bolt’s body as gently as he could. Outside, the pandemonium continued.

  
  


“Unughh…” Went Bolt, as he shook sleep off of him and stared narrow-eyed at Keeper.

  
  


“What was that just now!?”

  
  


“What was what?” Bolt asked, still groggy.

  
  


“Bolt, what nightmare were you just in?”

  
  


“What…?”

  
  


“You broadcast your nightmare to the ENTIRE TOWN, Bolt! Now every dragon in a five mile radius is running around in a panic! You’ve convinced everyone that they’re scavengers being chased down by dragons!”

  
  


Bolt jolts upright.

  
  


“That’s not good. What are we going to do?”

  
  


“No dragon would be able to calm them down. They’re all terrified of each other now! What they need is a human telling them to relax.”

  
  


“I’m on it,” Bolt declared.

\-----------------------------------------------------

Scene 2: Leap of Faith: This is a short one that I really wanted to squeeze in somewhere, but couldn’t. Context is, Bolt is being chased by a group of SkyWing hunters, and Keeper is waiting for him out of sight below a cliff.

Bolt kept running towards the cliff, and he jumped straight off of it, falling out of view of the hunters, his scarf lifting and trailing behind him. The SkyWings stopped, growled for a couple seconds as they considered whether to continue the chase, and then they lunged towards the edge, preparing to swoop down and catch Bolt mid-fall.

But that didn’t happen, for they were interrupted by the WHOOSH of huge wings, and out from under the cliff came Keeper, soaring way into the air, with Bolt clinging to his back.

“Sorry guys, this one’s taken!” Declared Keeper triumphantly.

\----------------------------------------------------

Scene 3: Humans and Dragons: Here’s an example of “Beta Bolt” in action. He’s much more negative and sarcastic. In this scene, Bolt and Keeper have just met and are getting to know one another. It’s written like a script because at this time I was going to write Bolt and Keeper in the same style as my previous fanfiction series, which was written as a hybrid between prose and screenplay. I still use the script style in some of my notes if I’m in a hurry to write it, because it’s faster to write dialog that way.

Keeper: So... Scavenger.

Bolt: Don't call me a scavenger. I'm a human. That's what we call ourselves.

Keeper: And what do you call us?

Bolt: Big, scaly idiots.

Keeper: (Growls)

Bolt: I'm JOKING! We call you dragons, just like you do.

\-----------------------------------------------

Scene 4: Bolt Learns About the Weirdling Tower: This scene made it into the final story in another form, with Smolder giving the main dialog rather than Keeper. Another “Beta” scene made very early in development, this would also have occurred soon after Bolt and Keeper met one another.

Keeper: She even had a tower where she kept many oddities, stuffed hybrid dragons, even a stuffed scavenger with pale skin, I-- (Looks at Bolt)

Bolt: .............. (Giving Keeper a very disturbed expression)

Keeper: (Very embarrassed and regretful) Oh... I'm so sorry, I completely forgot that you're one of them... I apologize.

\--------------------------------------------------

Scene 5: Beginning of the Final Battle: (Variation 1) The final battle sequence, what became the “Ultimo” chapter, went through the most variations throughout the whole story. I was trying to figure out a good ending for the story’s conflict all the way back to the very beginning. Although I never wrote a scene draft for it, the true original final battle would have been an air battle, with Bolt firing his Pulsar at the story’s main villain from Keeper’s back while he’s chasing after the villain in midair. The first final battle sequence to actually get written was this one. And yes, Crimson’s dialogue here is an unintentional reference to Kung Fu Panda 2, which I didn’t even realize until I saw a clip of the climax scene from the movie during a YouTube video.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO KILL THE SAME STINKING SCAVENGER!?!?"

"I don't know," replied Bolt snarkily, "Couple million more times should do it."

And with that, Bolt launched into battle with the SkyWing. The dragon had an advantage, certainly, but then again, Bolt was no ordinary "scavenger," being that he was armed with advanced weaponry not of this world. It also helped that years of living alone in the wilderness had made his reflexes and agility razor-sharp, and Bolt dodged Crimson's attacks with grace.

\--------------------------------------------

Scene 6: The Secret’s Out: This is what became the scene where Bolt almost gets eaten in Chapter Five. It ended up becoming much more elaborate in the final draft.

"You look tasty."

"STOP IT!!"

Everyone suddenly stopped what they're doing and stared open-mouthed at Bolt.

"I mean--uhhh... Squeak?"

Except Bolt's translator converted the word "squeak" into the Dragon word for squeak, breaking the illusion.

\-------------------------------------------------------

Scene 7: Kinkajou’s Transformation: This one _definitely_ didn’t make the final cut, and Kinkajou, of course, never even appeared in the story. I was inspired by a very funny scene in the first Lego Movie involving Unikitty. Basically, Bolt and the Jade Winglet are making up a plan to visit a human village together, and of course, they’d need to be scavengers to properly do so, so they plan to enlist the help of an animus to transform them into humans. Hilarity ensues when Bolt visualizes a certain RainWing getting herself some hair.

And soon, before his eyes was a teenage girl with outlandishly rainbow-hued hair, clothed in a neon yellow dress. She held her hands up to her face and wiggled her fingers, delighted with the way they moved. Next came the language test.

"Squeak squeak, yibble-yobble... Other scavenger stuff." Went Kinkajou. She turned to Bolt. "Is it working?"

After groaning exasperatedly, Bolt said "Yes."

"YAAY!!" Shouted Kinkajou with stars in her eyes.

Bolt’s vision ended.

"On second thought, let's NOT turn Kinkajou into a human. I don't think think my sanity could take it."

\------------------------------------------

Scene 8: The WristUnit Boots Up: This scene remained pretty much completely unchanged in the final story. A very fun fact about this scene is that the WristUnit’s boot sequence was directly inspired by the startup animation for the Pip-Boy from Fallout 4.

A flurry of seemingly random numbers and symbols flew across the floating rectangle at high speed.

"What does it feel like?" Keeper asked, his face filled with wonder. He had never seen anything like this.

"It doesn't feel like anything," Bolt replied, equally entranced with his apparently magic wrist, "It's just there."

Now words were beginning to appear on the magic window, or at least something resembling words:

\--wristunit mk1--

os v1.15.14 (october 2597)

\-------------------

installed cpu intertronics aa40 mk1

installed ram 16tb

available storage 99/100tb

no holodrive detected

\--------------------------------

first time boot detected, loading setup assistant

.......................done

The window disappeared, and a simple semblance of a smiling human face appeared over the glowing circle. The face began to speak.

Hi there, [MISSINGNAME]!

I'm currently pairing with your other implants!

A three-dimensional image of Bolt's body appeared above his wrist.

I found:

1 Mk. 1 telepathic translator, which seems to already be active! (A dot appeared inside Bolt's head on the projection)

1 cardiac monitor! (Model HM240H1) (Another dot in his chest)

1 Spatial Intelligence (Series 1) GPS implant! (Finally, a dot on his left shoulder)

....................

Hooray! We're all set up!

Hey, I have a message from Darter [MISSINGLASTNAME]!

Would you like me to play it for you?

"Darter..." Bolt breathed, then he perked up, "That's my dad's name!"

"Would you like me to play the message?"

"Yes! Yes please!"

Another 3D image appeared on his wrist. Bolt gasped; it was a perfect recreation of his late father, though he looked somewhat younger than when he had last seen him.

"Hello Bolt. This is your father speaking. I have recorded this message to play to you in the event you successfully activate your WristUnit implant."

\-----------------------------------------------------------

Scene 9: Jacob’s Familiar: This has absolutely nothing to do with Bolt and Keeper; I just wanted to include this because it’s a cool scene involving a magic fight between Darkstalker and a scavenger animus, written as a one-off idea.

"And why should I be afraid of you, little scavenger?" Darkstalker growled

Everything went silent.

"Because you're not the only magic user here."

With explosive force a vortex of flame surrounded the scavenger. The fighting dragons in the area immediately stopped fighting to observe a gigantic flaming human arm pop out of the vortex, followed by a head, and soon Darkstalker was confronted by an enormous fire-scavenger, as big as the King himself was.

"Giant flaming human, yes, I know, very original."

JACOB'S FAMILIAR: FLAME TITAN KAROS

Karos swatted Darkstalker's face, causing a massive explosion where it hit him.

"Now THAT'S what you call a bitch-slap!" Called Jacob, cheering on his summoned companion.

\------------------------------------------------------

Scene 10: Bolt Meets Peril: This scene includes a very early version of Bolt’s LinkSuit, at this point it was basically a suit of fireproof armor made to allow a human to withstand a dragon attack, and not any more special than that. Peril definitely learned something new today.

Bolt, without warning, climbed Peril's back and sat astride her neck. Not even a whisper of smoke came off his body.

"How are you--" Peril stammered.

"Fireproof armor," Bolt confidently replied, "With this on, I could take a refreshing dip in a volcano and come out without a scratch."

\----------------------------------------------------------

Scene 11: Keeper’s Desperation: This was one of the last scene drafts I put into my notes. It’s a concept of how Bolt’s recovery from the injuries he received from Crimson would play out. This was scrapped because Mayfly’s practice in Possibility would have been too far from Crimson’s mansion for Keeper to realistically arrive there before Bolt was gone forever, so I selected Sanctuary instead. Winter’s reaction to seeing Bolt fatally injured, as you can see, didn’t change much. Before this draft was written I was originally going to have Keeper take Bolt to the Rain Kingdom for a cure, but I decided that RainWings probably wouldn’t have a cure for something synthetic. I did end up introducing an elderly RainWing apothecary who lived in Sanctuary who would help heal Bolt, however.

"What do you expect me to do!?" Mayfly exclaimed, "I'm a doctor, not a veterinarian!"

Keeper dropped a sack of gold onto the table next to Bolt. His entire savings.

"I'll... See what I can do.". She picked Bolt up and took him to the exam room.

(The next set of lines would have occurred later, but were lumped into the same notes directly after the last scene)

"Three moons!" Winter exclaimed, "What happened to him!?"

"He saved my life, that's what."

\------------------------------------------

Scene 12: Keeper Reveals the Fate of His Parents: This is KINDA spoilery, but I’ve already hinted to this in Chapter 11, so I’m going to go ahead and reveal this right here. I may elaborate more on this plot point in the Second Arc. This was going to be a big plot twist that would have unfolded during one variation of Bolt’s fight with Crimson. Bolt would be right on the verge of dealing the final, fatal blow against Crimson, when Keeper would interrupt him because as much as he hated Crimson, he didn’t want to see him die. This was scrapped partially because I didn’t want to portray Keeper as TOO much of a pacifist; he’s definitely not Sky, and I didn’t think it would be in character for him to _not_ want Bolt to kill Crimson.

"Bolt, don't kill him!"

"You have no idea what this _wretch_ of a dragon put me through! My parents are _dead_ because of him!"

"Yes, I _do_ have an idea of how you're feeling!"

Keeper looked Bolt sincerely in the eye.

"He killed my parents too."

\----------------------------------------------------

Scene 13: Bolt Goes Super Mario 64 on a Skywing: The scene title I just typed was literally my note heading for this entry. This is actually part scene note, part scene draft, so it’s a little messy. Most of the scene was unchanged, and I’m particularly proud of the Marvel reference I made here.

With the Linksuit's assistance, Bolt is able to swing around a SkyWing by her tail and throw her into a wall. Linksuits are no joke.

"Enough! You are beneath me! I am a dragon, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by--"

Bolt grabbed her by her tail and swung her around, a dizzy moan coming out of her mouth as she accelerated, then Bolt let go, sending the dragon flying into a wall, which her head crashed through and she stayed put there, groaning with pain.

"And that's why you shouldn't have a tail," Bolt said, suppressing a laugh, "Too much of a liability."

The LinkSuit affords its wearer such unrealistic amounts of physical strength because of its A-Grav generators on the hands, which create antigravity fields around anything the wearer grabs. Which translates to Bolt being able to pick the big SkyWing up and throw her around like she weighed nothing.

\-----------------------------------------

Scene 14: Bolt’s Battle with Crimson (Second Version): This is another intro to Bolt’s clash with Crimson. In this version, Bolt runs into Crimson _before_ rescuing Keeper, and fights him alone. My wordplay with Bolt’s dialog here was a little out-of-character for Bolt; he usually doesn’t speak like this, but it’s good writing nonetheless. Once again, this is a hybrid between a scene draft and notes for the scene.

“Hi there! If you don't mind, I'll be taking my dragon back.”

Crimson tells Bolt Keeper owes gold to him.

"I don't really care. Why should I? I'm just a "mindless scavenger" with no intelligence. But whoops! I'm not "mindless," I have just as much smarts as you, and enough weaponry to turn your whole world topsy-turvy, and uh-oh! You're kinda the dragon that ate my friends and family, and I REALLY don't like that, so give me ONE reason why I shouldn't blast your STINKING face off!!"

He then overloads his LinkSuit out of sheer rage, since the suit is tied to his emotions

He later rips a marble column out of the ground and swings it at Crimson.

\----------------------------------------------------

Scene 15: Bolt’s Rage: This was the version of Bolt’s battle with Crimson I really wanted to use, before I decided to have the LinkSuit fail Bolt at a critical moment, making it so that Keeper had to once again rescue Bolt, and allow Keeper to deliver the final blow himself. Additionally, the LinkSuit in this version has its weaponry built into it; the hand part of the suit would spit open to reveal a Pulsar cannon. I decided to scrap this version of the LinkSuit because I wanted to save some of the more advanced features of the LinkSuit for future models. The Advanced LinkSuit may make an appearance in Arc 2, since Bolt would have access to current Terran technology now that he’s been to Earth. Also, Bolt in this version of the battle is WAY angrier. Angry enough to genuinely scare Keeper.

Bolt's face turned a bright shade of red.

Oh, I don't know, how does YOU ATE MY FAMILY sound?? What did they taste like!? THEY HAD BETTER HAVE BEEN DELICIOUS FOR ALL THE PAIN YOU PUT ME THROUGH!!

//LINKSUIT OVERDRIVE MODE ENGAGED//

Bolt's LinkSuit flared up to the point he resembled a steaming metal flower, and out popped every single weapon the suit had; numerous laser cannons, two micro-missle launchers, all aimed squarely at Crimson's face. Both suit and pilot had gone completely out of control.

The LinkSuit had been designed for well-trained Terran soldiers who would keep their cool in the heat of battle, not a traumatized, angsty teenager with a grudge to pay out. If this kept up, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that the machine would overload and explode with Bolt inside of it.

I WANT YOU TO BEG FOR YOUR LIFE! I WANT YOU TO FEEL THE WAY I DID ALL THOSE YEARS AGO!! I WANT YOU TO BE THE LONELY LITTLE BOY WITH NO FAMILY!!

Keeper stood horrified in the background. He had never seen a scavenger get this angry, and he wondered if he should reign in his friend, but part of him thought he shouldn't, (After all Crimson put the poor guy through, he deserves this) and another part of him thought that even if he should put Bolt under control, he doesn't think he even _could_ , given the otherworldly weaponry the human had surrounded himself with.  
  


  
  


\------------------------------------------------------

Scene 16: Very Early Final Battle Scene: This was written at the beginning of development, back before I even had an idea who the villain of Bolt and Keeper was going to be. The “original” villain was going to be a NightWing named Trunk, which obviously isn’t even a NightWing name at all, so it would have probably have been weird. Trunk would have served a similar function to Crimson; he would be the dragon that ate Bolt’s parents, he would have a gang of lackies that Bolt would have to fight through in order to get to him, and so on. In this case, two other major things are different from the final version. First, Bolt is fighting essentially the entire gang at once, and second, Bolt has no LinkSuit; he’s only wearing his normal clothes, and he’s armed with a Pulsar rifle instead of a cannon. The odds would have severely been against Bolt in this fight. I actually got the inspiration for the dialog here from a book I really liked as a teenager, “The Hunt” by Andrew Fukuda.

"Oh how cute, the little scavvie wants to play hero. You do realize you should be worried about all my compatriots in this room, correct?"

Bolt had his Pulsar aimed squarely at Trunk’s face.

"No, it's just you I'm worried about. Only you. Which is why I'm going to blast your face in five seconds unless you let my friend go."

\-----------------------------------------------------

**Notes:**

Here are some of the notes and scraps I wrote for Arc 1. They range from simple ideas I jotted down to elaborate concepts and descriptions of how I want something to play out. There’s no real organization to them, so there’s not going to be much order to the notes here. Bold text is the actual note, while normal text indicates my comments and titles on the notes.

\---------------------------

Bolt’s Signature Fighting Moves: (From very early in development)

**Sword: Carousel Slash**

**This move sends Bolt spinning forward rapidly with his sword outstretched. If it were to collide with a dragon, it would do significant damage, but unfortunately, he can't control where he moves while spinning, and he is more likely to crash into a wall than hit his target.**

**Gun: Pulsar Overdrive**

**Bolt overcharges his Pulsar pistol and fires a huge Pulsar bolt at a target. His gun has to recharge afterward.**

**\--------------------------------**

Very Early Relationship Notes for Bolt and Keeper (One of the very first things I put into Google Keep for the story)

**Bolt's upbeat, carefree attitude is actually a front for the inner pain he hides within. As Keeper learns more and more about the human's trauma, the more he realizes just how alike humans and dragons are, and begins to truly regret all the things dragons did to scavengers.**

\---------------------------------------------

**Bolt's greatest fear is, not surprisingly, being eaten by dragons, which is something he has to learn to micromanage when he ends up LIVING with one.**

\---------------------------------------------------

**One of the definite advantages of being Bolt; he can waltz right up to any dragon he wants and blow their mind just by opening his mouth.**

\--------------------------------------------------

Ancient Automaton (This was originally something Bolt and Keeper would have to fight before reaching the entrance to the Starchild)

**A mysterious machine built in the shape of a giant scavenger. It appears to be a weapon designed for the express purpose of killing dragons. To achieve that end, it is loaded down with a multitude of advanced weapons capable of easily felling multiple dragons at a time, and should not be approached without a strategy. Bolt's Wristunit may be able to override its controls.**

\------------------------------------------------------

Bolt’s Comment to Winter (I think this would have been quite humorous, since Winter is very much like this)

“ **You're a real pooper, you know that?”**

**\---------------------------------------------------**

Bolt+Keeper Villains (This is where I finalized the concept for Crimson. Originally Vulture was going to be in this list as well.)

**Crimson (The SkyWing who ate Bolt's parents. Keeper also owes gold to him. Has a scar on his chest where Bolt's father's Pulsar hit him.)**

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

**The LinkSuit, being military technology, is obviously sized for adult humans. Thankfully, Bolt is very "built" for a teenager, and he fits inside with relative ease.**

\----------------------------------------------------------

**Bolt's parents raised him to be a reasonable person. He doesn't blame ALL dragons for his parents' deaths. BUT, the images of the three SkyWings who DID kill them are burned permanently into Bolt's head, and it's pretty often you'll find him fantasizing about doing some very nasty things to them.**

Yes, there were three SkyWings who ate up Bolt’s village. However, Bolt focuses predominately on the one he saw most closely, who was Crimson. Crimson by far had the highest body count during the massacre at Bolt's home.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

**Keeper already had suspicions that scavengers were more than meets the eye for several years. He just didn't have confirmation of his beliefs until he met Bolt.**

Keeper did open up to the idea of humans being intelligent quite quickly for most dragons, and while I never went over this in the story, Keeper in his spare time was very much like Winter, studying scavengers extensively. He never met one up close until he found Bolt, however.

\------------------------------------------------------

**Bolt tried eating raw meat ONCE out of sheer desperation and hunger. He ended up catching a nasty illness that left him suffering from an incapacitating fever in his tent for two days and nights, and it was likely the closest Bolt had ever come to dying.**

**"So no, it's not that we LIKE our meat cooked, it's that we NEED our meat cooked."**

Definitely wanted to have some narrative on WHY exactly humans can’t eat raw meat.

\--------------------------------------------------

Very important

**On the subject of dragons simply denying Bolt's intelligence, for instance "Aww that's so cute, it's making dragon noises!" Well, let me say this: It's pretty damn hard to ignore someone who's speaking DIRECTLY into your head.**

\-----------------------------------------------------

The reason why Bolt was able to defeat so many dragons in “Ultimo”

**One simple reason: The element of surprise. NOBODY was expecting Bolt, a SCAVENGER of all people, to show up to rescue Keeper, not even Keeper himself thought Bolt would come to his aid. And they ESPECIALLY weren't prepared for Bolt's newly acquired LinkSuit, which definitely evened the playing field in terms of fighting capability between humans and dragons. Even though it looked like Bolt was unstoppable, there was one weakness of the LinkSuit that neither party knew about: crush resistance. The Mark 3 LinkSuit is hopelessly useless against being crushed, so a dragon could have simply stepped on Bolt to end the fight right there. The issue with that, though, would be that Bolt is so extremely agile inside the LinkSuit, even becoming airborne sometimes, that stamping your talons on him would be very difficult.**

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Bolt’s Prophecy (This would have fit Bolt’s story somewhat well, but I decided not to use it since Bolt never met Moonwatcher or any other NightWings over the course of Arc One)

**The masked scavenger shall find his purpose**

**Dragons will bow before him**

**And a sleeping giant shall fly once more among the stars**

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This is my explanation for why Bolt’s arrow in Chapter One didn’t hit Keeper, since Bolt is in all essences a master archer.

**Bolt's aim with his bow is almost always dead-on. He only missed Keeper for two reasons: Bolt miscalculated the wind speed/direction around the dragon, and, if you'll pardon the language, was also scared shitless at the time.**

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If you wanted to know how Bolt’s WristUnit map was generated, and how much of the world it covers, here’s the answer.

**The GPS maps on Bolt's WristUnit don't just show Pyrrhia. The maps were generated 200 years ago by the Starchild's orbital scanner, and they depict the ENTIRE planet, every last continent, and even the topography of the planet's seafloor. Unfortunately, the maps ARE 200 years old, so some things are out of date, like the locations of settlements, for instance, Possibility and Sanctuary are entirely absent. Even still, the geographical data stored inside Bolt's wrist would advance the dragons' knowledge of their world by centuries... If only they could read it. After all, the map's a teensy bit small for dragon eyes, being that the whole thing is projected from a scavenger's wrist. It also doesn't help that Bolt is unaware of the true scope of the maps.... For now. The only continent the kid really cares about currently is Pyrrhia, so it hasn't occurred to him to zoom out the projection.**

**\----------------------------------------**

Bolt’s “Fur” (I literally had an entire note entry dedicated to Bolt’s skin and hair, and how he feels about it)

**It's gold. It's lustrous. Winter has never seen anything like it.**

**His blond hair and pale complexion isn't so much a point of pride for Bolt as much as it is a confusion. Besides his parents and the people who used to live in his village, Bolt has NEVER seen anyone like himself. He has suspicions his ancestors may not be from Pyrrhia, and it's the best explanation he has.**

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And here’s the positively heartbreaking reason Bolt, for most of Arc One, never takes off his scarf.

**If you want to know why Bolt always covers his face with his scarf, it's not because he's shy, though that's a little bit of why he does it. His main reason is because it's the closest thing to his father hugging him that he still has, and he doesn't want to let go of this "hug" for fear that if he does, his dad will be gone forever. So basically it reached a point where Bolt genuinely believes there is a piece of his father's spirit inside the scarf that will disappear if he removes it. It's also symbolism for the idea that Bolt hasn't let go of his parents yet.**

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A tidbit on a slightly painful lesson Bolt learned about electricity

**Bolt tried taking apart his "silver torch" one time and it "stung" (Zapped) him, so he put it back together and didn't mess with it anymore.**

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Some funny dialogue I wrote for Bolt that unfortunately didn’t make the final cut:

**"Oh, don't mind me, just your friendly neighborhood scavenger, nothing to see here! I'll just be going now, bye!" He dashed off.**

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Some decidedly more serious dialog I wrote for Bolt to threaten a Crimson Gang member with during the climax chapter. Later on in this list you’ll see Bolt actually make good on this threat.

**"Stay away from me... Or the next one's going down your throat."**

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Bolt’s love of eating deer was born here. I wanted to specify a favorite food for Bolt, and I decided on venison because it's a tasty meat that's readily available in the forests Bolt spent most of his life in.

**Bolt's favorite food is spiced venison, (Deer meat) and he will go to great lengths to obtain it, such as spending the entire day tracking a buck so he could sink an arrow into it.**

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The original version of the scene where Bolt suits up to fight Crimson, where Bolt isn’t aware of the LinkSuit’s purpose, and is scared and confused at the fact that the suit had assembled itself on top of him, which leads to an interesting conversation with the suit’s AI.

**ARVEN CORPORATION LINKSUIT MK3 RV2**

**//WARNING! AUTHORIZED USE ONLY!//**

**COMMANDING OFFICER RECOGNIZED**

**HELLO, [MISSINGIDENT]**

**//NO SUIT CONTROL IMPLANT DETECTED, DEFAULTING TO WRISTUNIT CONTROL PROTOCOL//**

**PILOT LINK IN PROGRESS....................DONE.**

**ALL SYSTEMS GO**

**"LinkSuit online," said a feminine voice from inside the suit.**

**"W-what are you!?" Exclaimed Bolt.**

**"I am a fully loaded military platform capable of transforming even the weakest soldier into a walking tank. But you can call me Link."**

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Vermilion gets unnecessarily upset about the Starchild (This was never intended to be put into the story, I just wanted to have a funny, nonsensical reaction to the Starchild flying over the SkyWing palace)

**"Oh, sure, the scavengers LITERAL FLYING CASTLE!!" He turned to Ruby. " _WHY DIDN'T WE THINK OF THAT!?!?"_**

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As weird as discussing this is, this is at least a little important, since sexual orientation in many stories (Especially in more modern works) is becoming more of an important part of character development. This includes Wings of Fire, with Tui T. Sutherland confirming recently that dragons could be LGBTQ+. Bolt is an interesting case due to his background. Here’s what spending his childhood and half of his puberty alone did to Bolt’s sexual orientation. I originally developed this part of Bolt’s character not for inclusion in the story, since I never include sex in my works, but instead as a response to anyone who asked about Bolt’s orientation.

**The idea of sexuality terrifies Bolt to no end because no one was around during Bolt's early pubescent years to tell him how human reproduction worked. Therefore, when Bolt was eleven and started having unfamiliar thoughts about females, (and sometimes males!) he genuinely thought something was wrong with him and desperately tried to shut out the urges. As a result, Bolt today is stuck somewhere between asexuality and bisexuality. Bolt is also aromantic.**

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Here’s what would have happened to one of the dragons other than Crimson who attacked Outpost Village had Bolt run into him in “Ultimo.” This would have gone with the quote I made earlier where Bolt was threatening a dragon with his Pulsar. Fortunately, in the final story, the dragon in question left the Crimson Gang several years before Bolt’s attack on the mansion, meaning his wise decision to leave his life of crime saved him from Bolt’s eventual wrath.

**Bolt shot a Pulsar bolt straight down the dragon's throat through the flames. His vocal cords melted, the SkyWing who had once terrorized Bolt's village fell to the ground, clutching his neck while making choking sounds. He would never be able to speak again.**

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Outpost Village’s Backstory (One of my longest, most elaborate notes)

**Outpost Village has an entire underground complex beneath its medieval surface, built using Terran technology instead of the more traditional methods used to create the huts on the ground. Its purpose is lost on the technologically naive Bolt, but it was once used to study Pyrrhia safely out of sight of its locals. Unfortunately, during the First Burning of Outpost Village, the entire adult population of the Starchild's crew were killed, leaving only children oblivious to the underground complex's existence left in the town.**

**Miraculously, the children of Outpost Village managed to reconstruct their home, and about 175 years later, a man named Darter rediscovered the complex and began to study it. He found an armory filled with futuristic weaponry, including the Pulsars and 1 fully functional LinkSuit, and took a couple of the Pulsars to the surface to serve as defense against dragons.**

**He also discovered an implant lab complete with unused models of WristUnits and a telepathic translator module, among other things. After extensively researching the implants using data on the lab's computer, he managed to successfully implant a selection of these pieces of high Terran nanotechnology into his only son, Bolt. Soon Darter became determined to reawaken the sleeping giant, the Terran starship TUSC Starchild, and he began to plan out a strategy for leaving Pyrrhia, once and for all.**

**But his plans were dashed when the dragons returned to raze Outpost Village to the ground once more. He and every other villager were killed... Except for Bolt, who, being only five years old, was still blissfully unaware of the technological powers laying dormant inside of his body.**

**That all changed when a certain SandWing swept him off his feet, and the sheer emotional overload of what he perceived to be his imminent demise triggered the activation sequence of his telepathic translator, thus granting him the ability to "talk" to dragons.**

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The original ending of Arc One would have followed Bolt down to Earth’s surface, where we would have seen Bolt acclimating to Terran society. This was scrapped to save space in an already-bloated epilogue, but the final line of the story would have Bolt in a high school classroom, introducing himself to the class.

**"I'm Bolt Mitchell," Bolt said, "And someday, I'm going to go back to Pyrrhia and complete the mission of peace my ancestors started 200 years ago."**

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The distress call protocol the original Starchild crew used, as shown in Chapter 11, was actually somewhat problematic from a “rules” standpoint.

**Code Three in terms of a Terran distress signal translates to "I am marooned on a hostile planet, under active attack, and require immediate emergency extraction." Alternatively there is Code Three B, which means "I have valuable cargo and/or intelligence and am under attack."**

**Technically the captain's use of Code Three on Pyrrhia was a misuse of the protocol because the Starchild was still fully functional, though inaccessible due to the ongoing dragon attack.**

**The correct distress signal to use would have been the Code Two protocol, which means "I am under active attack and require evacuation" but Code Two is a lower priority, and the Starchild's crew were panicking and desperate, so they opted to violate protocol and issue a Code Three call instead to get more immediate assistance, which, unfortunately for them, never came.**

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Here’s some notes regarding one of Bolt’s most important traits: his name. Or in his case, the several names and titles he’s held over his young life. There’s also a big upcoming change to Bolt’s long-winded “title” he sometimes throws around. In the next arc, Bolt will no longer address himself as “Sole Survivor of Outpost Village.” The new name he made for himself is much more important-sounding and fitting given his new role in the story. I added names to this list as I wrote them, and will continue to add more as I think of them.

**-Bolt (As it turns out, Bolt is named after the Starchild's callsign, Bolt 3)**

**-Goldie (Keeper's "pet" name for him)**

**-Bolt Mitchell (Terran name)**

**-Bolt the Enduring, Sole Survivor of Outpost Village (Full title in B &K1)**

**-Bolt Mitchell the Enduring, Envoy of the Scavengers (Full title following B &K1)**

**-The Denless Scavenger (His designation among dragons in their stories of him)**

**-Scarfy Boy (Endearing name given to him by several human children in Talisman)**

**-[MISSINGNAME] or [MISSINGIDENT] (His name according to most Terran computer systems, as he is not on file in the Starchild's registers, but nonetheless later has Captain-level privileges onboard the ship)**

**-Bolt Doe- Bolt had this name for a few hours while Terran officials tried to find a relative for him.**

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This is a very big revelation I have about Bolt’s distant Terran linage. This will never be used in-story, this is something about Bolt that only the readers of this note will know, and it can be considered canon to the story.

**Absolutely no one alive in the universe knows this, but Bolt's very, very, very, VERY distant ancestor as far back as the Fifteenth Century on Earth... Was a queen. In other words, Bolt is royalty among scavengers. Not that Bolt will ever find out, and even if he DID know, he wouldn't want a crown. He'd feel that it'd be too heavy, both literally and figuratively. Figuratively as in, the responsibilities of being a king would absolutely destroy the young man. He's very free-spirited, and he'd never want to be confined to a throne.**

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This note shows what happened to the Knowledge Infusion Machines like the one Bolt used in the Outpost Research Center below his village.

**Invented in 2591, they were declared unethical by the Terran Council in 2604 due to their potential to be misused as tools of hostile indoctrination. (You could sit in the chair, and there would be absolutely no way of knowing exactly WHAT the machine was going to force into your memory. Scary!)**

**Additionally, there were isolated incidents of severe brain damage in students being educated with the infusion machines. By the 2605-2606 school year, the machines were completely retired and schools across the planet reverted to traditional education methods.**

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Despite all the research Bolt’s father did into Terran technology, he didn’t perfectly teach himself since he self-educated using data left behind by the Starchild’s crew on the research center computers.

**WristUnits are almost always implanted into a human's left wrist, though it can be configured for either one. Bolt's WristUnit is on his right wrist because Darter, his father, wasn't familiar with typical protocol regarding where the implants were supposed to go, and he also didn't know which arm would end up being Bolt's dominant one.**

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Total amount of time spent typing Bolt and Keeper in hours, minutes, seconds

(Recorded by LibreOffice. I believe it did not count the time while I was not typing, meaning production actually took much longer, since it wouldn’t count the times I was stuck)

**37:37:58**

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And that’s all the notes I can share at the moment! I have many more notes written for the second and third arcs! Next week I’ll release the prologue of the Second Arc, whose title, (Get ready) will be “Bolt and Keeper: Envoy of the Scavengers.”

Now, in the next section is a tradition I started with my previous fanfiction project, David and the Crystal Gems for the Steven Universe fandom. It’s basically “blooper reels” for my story, hilarious, off-the-wall jokes involving the characters in the story, styled after the gag reels so many movies include on their home releases, which I am a huge fan of.

**Bolt and Keeper: Bloopers Reel**

1\. Bolt’s Climax Line Fumble (This was written for the original climax during development)

“It’s just you I’m worried about,” Bolt said seriously and fearlessly, “That’s why I’m going to bleh--” Bolt made a funny face. “Bleh-bleh. Bleh-bleh-bleh-bleh…”

“Cut!”

The enemy dragons dropped character and started laughing, and Bolt lowered his Pulsar and joined in.

“Wow, I mean, Wow,” Bolt said, and he lowered his scarf, revealing a huge smile on his face.

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2\. The Animus’s Magical Blunder

A dragon animus was attempting to enchant a stone with an unknown spell, with Bolt and Keeper in the room with him.

“I enchant this stone to-- …I said I enchant this stone to-- F***!!”

Laughter erupted in the background.

Bolt walked closer to the camera, shouting “Two points for Gryffindor!”

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3\. “Waterproof” MudWings

The MudWing eyed a bright-red vegetable Bolt had yet to slice, shaped like a claw. “Hey, can I

eat that?”

“Depends. Are your insides waterproof? ……..Wait.”

“Cut!”

The background dragons start laughing.

“Umm, I think you meant to say “FIREproof, little guy,” said the MudWing reassuringly.

“I’m so sorry! Still new to this “dragon” thing,” said Bolt.

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4\. Bolt’s Fed Up with Being Dropped

Take twenty-nine, and… ACTION!!

“Give us back our prey!” Shouted the SkyWings chasing after Keeper and Bolt.

“Oh boy, is it that time of the day again?” Bolt yelled with a goofy look in his eyes. “Because I TOTALLY haven't been dropped out of the sky THIRTY blipping times by now. I love my life.”

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5\. Hotel Bolt

Bolt walked into a room filled with SkyWings lounging on perches in stacks. None of them seemed to notice the intrusion of the small human being.

"Aha!" Bolt declared, "Here's the problem! Too many SkyWings!"

He held up a giant loaf of bread bigger than he was, labeled, "Queen Ruby's Sourpuss Bread."

"You know what they say... All SkyWings... Toast toast!"

The SkyWings in the room collectively raised their heads and breathed flame towards the ceiling.

Bolt then turned towards the camera. "OK, how many of you back home understood that reference? Am I getting old?"

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6\. Engine Trouble

Bolt sat down in the pilot’s chair aboard the Starchild, and opened up the holographic interface to control the ship. He tapped some buttons on the console, then “CONFIRM ENGINE IGNITION’ appeared on the screen. Bolt tapped YES, then… Nothing.

“Huh?” Went Bolt.

He tapped the button again. Still nothing. Bolt moved the throttle lever back and forth. He heard a sputtering sound come from below decks.

Bolt shrugged and said “Well! I tried!” And lowered the seat back to ground level, then walked out of the bridge to leave the ship, while the camera crew laughed along with him.

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7\. Crimson is Defeated Early

BANG! Went Keeper's door when Crimson slammed his body against it.

"I'm not home!" Shouted Keeper.

The SkyWings on the other side of the door burst into laughter. So did Bolt.

"Oh, OK then!" Said Crimson jokingly, "We'll come back later!"

Bolt stepped out of the storage room. "Nice one, Keeper!"

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8\. Bolt’s Dad and his Internet Humor

“Hooray! We're all set up! Hey, I have a message from Darter [MISSINGLASTNAME]! Would you like me to play it for you?”  
  
"Darter..." Bolt breathed, then he perked up, "That was my dad's name!"  
  
"Would you like me to play the message?"  
  
"Yes! Yes please!"  
  


A bout of percussion came out of the WristUnit, and a picture of a man dancing appeared over his wrist. Some singing came over the speaker.

“We’re no strangers to love… You know the rules, and so do I...”

Bolt realized what was going on and covered his wrist.

"Haha, real funny," Said Bolt, unamused. "Could someone get me the real message?"

Some laughter behind the camera.

“What’s going on?” Keeper asked.

“It’s a scavenger joke,” Bolt said, “You wouldn't understand.”

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9\. Bolt’s Embarrassing Moment

After Keeper dislodged Bolt from Sienna’s mouth, the human is sent flying into a wall where he slumps down, shivering from his close brush with death. Bolt is also soaked in saliva, which Bolt realizes, and becomes very upset and embarrassed that he’s been goop’d by a dragon.

“Bolt!” Keeper shouted with concern. “Are you okay?”

Bolt looks both abashed and annoyed. “No, Keeper. I am NOT okay.”

He waited several seconds, still covered in dragon spit.

“Could someone PLEASE cut to a new scene!?” Bolt shouted at the production crew off camera.

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And that’s all the bonus content I have for Arc One! Thank you so much for reading my story! As I stated earlier, Arc Two will premiere next week, starting with the prologue! Catch you later!


End file.
